World's first baby born of three-parent baby technique

John Zhang holds the world's first 'three-parent' baby

Laura Donnelly, HEALTH EDITOR
27 SEPTEMBER 2016 4:10PM
The worlds first three-parent baby has been born.
Scientists revealed the birth of a baby boy, now five months old, using DNA from three parents.
Fertility experts hailed the breakthrough as great news and a huge deal for the future of
reproduction.
But they expressed concern that it was only achieved because US scientists crossed the border to
Mexico to take advantage of lax regulation.
And critics last night accused the scientists of taking outrageous and unethical steps in order
to achieve the world first.
The child was born to a couple from Jordan, who had been trying to start a family for almost 20
years.
His mother carries genes for Leigh syndrome, a fatal disorder that affects the developing nervous
system, and caused the deaths of their first two children.
The baby was conceived from an egg containing nuclear DNA from his mother and father, and
mitochondrial DNA from a "second" mother - an unknown female donor.
The aim was to replace defective mitochondrial DNA and prevent the disease being passed on
through the maternal line.
British researchers expressed excitement about the breakthrough, saying it would accelerate
advances in the field and tame the more zealous critics.
Hopefully, now the first child is born and the heat is off, it takes away the pressure to involve
patients in unsecured treatments Prof Bert Smeets, Maastricht University
The controversial technique which allows parents with rare genetic mutations to have healthy
babies, is only legal in this country, and this followed fierce parliamentary debate.
The breakthrough, which came about using an approach called spindle nuclear transfer was
revealed in New Scientist magazine.
Scientists from the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City removed the nucleus from one
of the mother's eggs and inserted it into a donor egg that had had its own nucleus removed.

The resulting egg with nuclear DNA from the mother and mitochondrial DNA from a donor
was then fertilized with her husband's sperm.
The team, led by Dr. John Zhang used this approach to create five embryos, one of which
developed normally, and was implanted, resulting in the birth nine months later.
The method has not been approved in the US, so Dr. Zhang went to Mexico instead, where he
said there are no rules. Defending his decision, he said: To save lives is the ethical thing to
do.
Other scientists working in the field welcomed the news - but expressed concern that it had
occurred in a country which lacks stringent regulation.
Dr. Dusko Ilic, a reader in stem cell science at King's College London, said: This is great news
and a huge deal - its revolutionary.
He described the childs birth as an ice-breaker which was likely to be swiftly followed.
"The baby is reportedly healthy. Hopefully, this will tame the more zealous critics, accelerate the
field, and we will witness soon a birth of the first mitochondrial donation baby in the UK."
How the three-parent baby technique could wipe out mitochondrial disease in families 02:20
But experts said they were concerned about the lack of stringent regulation in Mexico, and said it
was crucial that the childs health was closely monitored.
Last year the House of Lords approved legislation to allow mitochondrial replacement.
It followed years of debate about the ethics of such advances, and fears they could be used to
create designer babies.
Those working in the field in Britain have insisted the technique would only be used to help
those suffering from potentially devastating inherited disorders.
But last night the US medical team which achieved the breakthrough said it was just the start.
Hopefully, this will tame the more zealous critics, accelerate the field, and we will witness soon a
birth of the first mitochondrial donation baby in the UK Dr. Dusko Ilic, King's College London
Dr. Zhang said the technique could in future be used in unlimited ways, including altering a
childs DNA to change their appearance.
Dr. David King, director of the watchdog group Human Genetics Alert, branded the research
"unethical and irresponsible".
"It is outrageous that they simply ignored the cautious approach of US regulators and went to
Mexico, because they think they know better, he said.

"These scientists have used an experimental technique that many scientists still think is unsafe in
order to create a world first.
Scientist from around the world welcomed the news, while expressing concern about the lack of
regulatory scrutiny of the process.

Sharon Bernardi, who lost all of her seven children to mitochondrial disease, is among many
patients keen to see advances in this country CREDIT: PA
Professor Bert Smeets, director of the Genome Centre at Maastricht University, said: At last, the
first child of a mother with a DNA mutation is born after mitochondrial donation.
"The safety of the method had already been quite convincingly demonstrated by the Newcastle
group in the UK and introduction into the clinic would only be a matter of time obviously,
dependent on national regulation or the absence of it.
A US-based research group apparently escaped the more rigid regulatory framework in the US
to perform this treatment in Mexico. That is a concern, especially as the framework not only
safeguards the introduction into the clinic, but also the follow-up of the children borne after this
treatment.
Inherited mitochondrial diseases include devastating conditions that result in poor growth,
muscle weakness, loss of co-ordination, seizures, vision and hearing problems, learning
disabilities and organ failure.
It is estimated that one in 4,000 people has an incurable mitochondrial disease.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/27/worlds-first-baby-born-with-three-parent-baby-technique/

Exclusive: Worlds first baby born with new 3 parent technique

Blackout Concepts/Alamy

By Jessica Hamzelou
Its a boy! A five-month-old boy is the first baby to be born using a new technique that incorporates
DNA from three people, New Scientist can reveal. This is great news and a huge deal, says Dusko
Ilic at Kings College London, who wasnt involved in the work. Its revolutionary.
The controversial technique, which allows parents with rare genetic mutations to have healthy
babies, has only been legally approved in the UK. But the birth of the child, whose Jordanian parents
were treated by a US-based team in Mexico, should fast-forward progress around the world, say
embryologists.

Briefing: Everything you wanted to know about 3-parent babies

The boys mother carries genes for Leigh syndrome, a fatal disorder that affects the developing
nervous system. Genes for the disease reside in DNA in the mitochondria, which provide energy for
our cells and carry just 37 genes that are passed down to us from our mothers. This is separate from
the majority of our DNA, which is housed in each cells nucleus.
Around a quarter of her mitochondria have the disease-causing mutation. While she is healthy, Leigh
syndrome was responsible for the deaths of her first two children. The couple sought out the help of
John Zhang and his team at the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City.

John Zhang holds the baby

Zhang has been working on a way to avoid mitochondrial disease using a so-called three-parent
technique. In theory, there are a few ways of doing this. The method approved in the UK is called
pronuclear transfer and involves fertilizing both the mothers egg and a donor egg with the fathers
sperm. Before the fertilized eggs start dividing into early-stage embryos, each nucleus is removed.
The nucleus from the donors fertilized egg is discarded and replaced by that from the mothers
fertilized egg.

Meet your mitochondria: The powerful aliens that lurk within you
But this technique wasnt appropriate for the couple as Muslims, they were opposed to the
destruction of two embryos. So Zhang took a different approach, called spindle nuclear transfer. He
removed the nucleus from one of the mothers eggs and inserted it into a donor egg that had had its
own nucleus removed. The resulting egg with nuclear DNA from the mother and mitochondrial
DNA from a donor was then fertilized with the fathers sperm.

Gene editing: A guide to the genetic revolution on our doorstep

Zhangs team used this approach to create five embryos, only one of which developed normally. This
embryo was implanted in the mother and the child was born nine months later. Its exciting news,

says Bert Smeets at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The team will describe the findings at
the American Society for Reproductive Medicines Scientific Congress in Salt Lake City in October.
Neither method has been approved in the US, so Zhang went to Mexico instead, where he says there
are no rules. He is adamant that he made the right choice. To save lives is the ethical thing to do,
he says.
The team seems to have taken an ethical approach with their technique, says Sian Harding, who
reviewed the ethics of the UK procedure. The team avoided destroying embryos, and used a male
embryo, so that the resulting child wouldnt pass on any inherited mitochondrial DNA. Its as good
as or better than what well do in the UK, says Harding.
A remaining concern is safety. Last time embryologists tried to create a baby using DNA from three
people was in the 1990s, when they injected mitochondrial DNA from a donor into another womans
egg, along with sperm from her partner. Two of the fetuses developed genetic disorders, and the
technique was halted by the US Food and Drug Administration. The problem may have arisen from
the fetuses having mitochondria from two sources.
When Zhang and his colleagues tested the boys mitochondria, they found that less than 1 per cent
carry the mutation. Hopefully, this is too low to cause any problems; generally it is thought to take
around 18 per cent of mitochondria to be affected before problems start. Its very good, says Ilic.
Smeets agrees, but cautions that the team should monitor the child to make sure the levels stay low.
Theres a chance that faulty mitochondria could be better at replicating, and gradually increase in
number, he says. We need to wait for more births, and to carefully judge them, says Smeets.

Two women, one man and a baby

A Jordanian couple has been trying to start a family for almost 20 years. Ten years after they
married, she became pregnant, but it ended in the first of four miscarriages.
In 2005, the couple gave birth to a baby girl. It was then that they discovered the probable cause
of their fertility problems: a genetic mutation in the mothers mitochondria. Their daughter was
born with Leigh syndrome, which affects the brain, muscles and nerves of developing infants.
Sadly, she died aged six. The couples second child had the same disorder, and lived for 8
months.
Using a controversial three-parent baby technique (see main story), the boy was born on 6
April 2016. He is showing no signs of disease.

Article amended on 27 September 2016

At the clinics request we have removed the names of the family

Article amended on 28 September 2016

The story has been updated to clarify that it was fetuses that developed genetic disorders in the 1990
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2107219-exclusive-worlds-first-baby-born-withnew-3-parent-technique/

The two articles of the same topic are undeniably different from each other. The headline by
telegraph.co. World's first baby born of three-parent baby technique is more neutral compared
to newscientist.com headline Exclusive: Worlds first baby born with new 3 parent technique.
The newscientist.com used Exclusive and new to bring out positivity in the topic. To say that the
technique is new means the technique is more successful than the previous techniques. This adds up to
the impression that the discovery is worth celebrating for. On the other hand, the telegraph.co.uk
involved opposing opinions by other people in order to bring controversy to the issue. The article was
more societal and ethical in nature. But newscientist.com made the topic more scientific to explore, less
external opinions, and more facts to explain the method. The telegraph.co.uk showed the topic to be an
issue while the newscientist.com showed the topic to be a breakthrough in medicine.